Star Wars Land...Officially

It's interesting that the spires surrounding the land look more like rocks (or even mud) in this image, since they look like oversized tree trunks in some of the older images

 

Don't look both SW Lands the same, since they always specify the location in the concept arts?

 

Yes, both lands should look nearly identical when finished. The side that's on the bottom in all the concept art may be slightly different between the two locations (Rivers of America in DL, new berm next to The Great Movie Ride building in WDW), but other than that they should have the same layout, design, and details

 

Day time and night time shot of Star Wars land.

 

Hope it all fits in with the rest of the charm of Disneyland.

This is the first big project in Disneyland since Tokyo Disney Sea and Islands of Adventure kind of changed the landscape and tone of a themed land.

You know what I mean?

The structures in Disney Sea are bigger, bolder and edge more toward realistic than fantasy.

Disneyland doesn't have that - even in DCA, so it will be interesting to see how it all works.

 

New concept art.

Disney Parks Imagineers and Lucasfilm Share Details of Their Collaboration on Star Wars-Themed Lands

 

Thanks to Inside the Magic here's a video of the Star Wars Land Panel fro SWCO.

 

The reasoning for why they developed a new location for the land sounds promising. The biggest problem I have with Carsland and Harry Potter (and presumably Avatar) is that the lands are just copies of what's in their respective movies; if I want to experience them, it's a lot easier to just watch the movie at home. It sounds like this will actually have new elements that make the in-park experience worthwhile, while still being firmly grounded in the Star Wars universe. Hopefully this also means that there will be a lot of fun stuff there for people who only have a marginal knowledge of Star Wars, rather than only appealing to superfans

In a lot of ways, I'm hopeful this will be similar to Lost River Delta at TDS. That area is clearly rooted in Indiana Jones mythology, yet was an entirely new creation for the park. People who saw the movies certainly had a deeper understanding of the area, but it also worked on the most basic level; I can't say that either Harry Potter or Carsland works like this, and I'm fearful that the SW attractions don't seem to either, but I'm glad that land itself will apparently follow this approach

I still have problems with having a single-IP land (especially in DL), but this is the right way to go about doing it

 

Looks cool. I find all the talk about 'story' and 'your story' and it's about 'your Star Wars experience' that 'you make' and 'story telling' just gets a bit tedious. Anyone else? Just open the dang thing and let me decide. Feel like it's really being shoved down our collective throats.

 

Completely agree. The whole "your experience" gets annoying! Hopefully Disney has a backup plan, because I'm not sure that many Disney visitors enjoy working together with strangers on attractions. Many already don't want to sit with strangers on the same table, even if you offer them some seats because the rest of the bar is too crowded.

 

I completely agree, and posted about it earlier today on another site. To me, Disney's most effective themed areas give you an evocative location and era, but leave the details to the individual guests in their imaginations. Places like Main Street or the World Showcase pavilions have a lot on their own, but are also open-ended enough for each guest to make their own connection with why things are the way they are (not to mention allowing for a broader variety of future additions)

The recent reliance on hyper-specific locations, whether real or fictional takes a lot of that away. Heck, they've gone as far as to give several ODV stands in DCA tortured backstories to justify their existence. It makes me feel like an outsider in the park, rather than at home where I get to fill in the details myself. Yes, the current focus on attractions with interactive elements tries to counteract this, but it only seems to further separate the guest from their surroundings. Removing the cognitive interactivity for something that simply "puts you in the driver's seat" is a big downgrade in my book

Interactive shows seemed to be all the rage about 25 years ago, but have fallen to the side more recently. There's only so many times I can tolerate a host doing the "I said 'Alooooooha!'" schtick, or watching a poor unsuspecting tourist fumble their way though a professional production. For my money, I would rather let the performers do their thing, while I sit back and soak it in. Similarly, I prefer attractions that don't require me to do much; why should I have to work to entertain myself on vacation?

On a related note, there seems to be a survey going around about a boutique Star Wars hotel that would have multi-day interactive experiences. The play test in DL's Frontierland a couple years ago was very popular with a subset of APers, but I would struggle to do something like that for more than an hour without feeling overly silly. I can see how this might appeal to some people (and for Disney the price isn't atrocious), but it feels like a giant misstep to me
Star Wars Land News

 

The issue I have with 'working with other guests' is that why does my 'special Star Wars experience' have to be impeded by Joe Tourist from Denver? Or worse yet, some AP Foamer who has been on the ride 17 times already and knows 'the best' way to do it.

Ugh

 

The official title will be STAR WARS: Galaxy's Edge.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Announced as Name for Star Wars Lands at Disney Parks

The name is not really catchy, but the model of the land looks stunning.

I'm still not sure about the Millenium Falcon ride. It sounds promising, but hopefully Disney isn't ruinnig the attraction by putting too much interaction with other guests into the attraction.

 

I also don't like the name, but it will be insanely popular regardless. I assume most people will simply call it "Star Wars" or "Star Wars Land" in practice

I don't think that the Millennium Falcon ride will be too bad for interactivity. It sounds like it is being designed so you can't completely ruin it, since the setup requires every ride to take the same amount of time, so even if you crash early on, you'll get to continue. It does sound like each ride will be pretty unique, which will be interesting to see how it works in reality, since obviously some experiences will be better than others; if I'm waiting hours for an attraction, I would like for it to give me the best experience possible

I'm also concerned that they keep pushing the overall interactivity of the land. Most of it sounds like it will require a ton of additional staffing (which will probably disappear after a year or two) and will have incredibly low capacity for a place that will surely have huge crowds. And similar to the interactive hotel concept, I think it will be hard to be a part of it without feeling silly